Building a StoryBrand

Empathetic statements start with words like, “We understand how it feels to . . .” or “Nobody should have to experience . . .” or “Like you, we are frustrated by . . .” or, in the case of one Toyota commercial inviting Toyota owners to engage their local Toyota service center, simply, “We care about your Toyota.”

It’s true: if you confuse, you’ll lose. But if you clarify your message, customers will listen. Here’s to helping the good guys win.

Here are five questions most likely to generate the best response for a customer testimonial:
1. What was the problem you were having before you discovered our product?
2. What did the frustration feel like as you tried to solve that problem?
3. What was different about our product?
4. Take us to the mo

If you want to create the system yourself, MailChimp is a fantastic service, especially for automated e-mail campaigns that are simple and reliable.

You don’t want the pop-up to appear immediately. That would be like being tackled by a salesman as soon as you walk through the door of a retail store.

If you’re going to create a downloadable PDF, keep it to about three pages of content.

-mail is the most valuable and effective way you can spread the word about your business, especially if your company revenue is under $5 million and you don’t have a large marketing budget.

Print your one-liner on your business cards and in your social media bios. Print it on your packaging. Include it in your e-mail signature. Repeat it over and over to increase the percentage chance customers will read it.

Can you replace some of your text with images? Can you reduce whole paragraphs into three or four bullet points? Can you summarize sentences into bite-sized soundbites? If so, make those changes soon. The rule is this: the fewer words you use, the more likely it is that people will read them.

Because it’s our story. Feelings of self-doubt are universal, as is the desire to become somebody competent and courageous. And all of this matters when it comes to branding our products